Games you were turned off of and why

[Old Fezziwig]

Star Wars d20: My own hangup really caused me to be turned off. I felt like trying to create a game that had the right atmosphere and vibe was hard, almost lilke I had Lucas and the first three films standing over my shoulder. Add in the fact that I only really liked 2 of the 6 films, despite (or because of) growing up on them, and it was a hard sell from go.

a/state: I started to read the book, and, although it was highly atmospheric, there was a ton of background and not a hell of a lot of game present (or rather, that material was all buried in the back of the book, and I got tired of reading subpar fiction in order to get to the game material).

Any fantasy football game: No one trades. No one. The season's too short to have a trade deadline, but most leagues have one anyhow, and it all devolves into getting lucky with your waiver wire pick ups. No thanks. Maybe other leagues are different, but this has my experience in most all the games I've played in.

I've had other games that I didn't get into right away (Exalted was a hard sell until my second look at it — I actually bought a copy of the core book and returned it before trying it out again two years later), but these are the only three that I've looked at and have absolutely no stomach to play (well, there's FATAL, but I wouldn't ever dream of even trying to play that, as I couldn't even get past the first few pages — most of what I know of it came from reading these boards and Nothingland).

Nick

 

[harmyn]

Let's see, the games I will never play again....

First I've got to go with the Rifts trend. There are some things I like about the descriptions, but the Palladium system is a scary thing to me. So I would have to pass on all their games save one --- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That screwy freakish rules set does just fine for that particular game to me. And it is the one of their games I would happily play or run again someday.

Next would be the Marvel Saga System --- was I playing rummy or a bad rpg? It was hard to tell.
Another is MERP and by extension Rolemaster --- More tables than every room of China put together.
The Old Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay --- had a very bad experience with it.
World of Synnibar --- yes I did try it one time (someone else bought the book, and it is that bad).
Star Wars d20 --- The d6 version was too nice, and this version is the embodiement of all that I detest about the d20 system. The D&D rules weren't designed to be universal regardless of what WotC hopes and dreams of.

Those are the only ones I can think of that I would never play again. Most everything else I am willing to give a try. A good GM can do amazing things with even a really crappy system.

 

[Imret]

Wombat's actually reminded me of a couple others:

I have never been fond of GURPS -- too crunchy, too granular in its resolution.

I had forgotten my dislike of GURPS, though it's primarily out of a sense of consumer outrage than anything else. Do you really need a dozen books about Robin Hood?

Finally, there are miniatures battles

Right. Warhammer 40K. It wasn't even so much the Rules Lawyers, the bad blood, the kibbitzers, the ridiculous amount of painting you need to do before you can play a "real" game...

Have you ever taken a deep breath inside a Games Workshop store location? The smell of a long D&D session is air freshener and lilacs compared to that strange funk - fast food and the sweaty unwashed, paint fumes, and something that smacks of mildew. This may just be my personal experience, but it was a Bad Scene. They also reacted to the presence of my fiance like cavemen to a propane torch; fascinated and in mortal terror at the same time.

 

[Alhazred]

Rifts: An experienced GM attempted to teach twelve of us at once. Our fight against a single vampire lasted over an hour and a half. (Actually, it took longer, but I left because I got bored.) I do remember rolling a handful of d6's to determine the damage from my plasma rifle.

I never got into M:tG or other CCGs, but my friends are big fans.

 

[harmyn]

Rifts: An experienced GM attempted to teach twelve of us at once. Our fight against a single vampire lasted over an hour and a half. (Actually, it took longer, but I left because I got bored.) I do remember rolling a handful of d6's to determine the damage from my plasma rifle.....

That reminds me of the next to last time I ever played it. We had spent three hours trying to get the characters all made, I was running the game and it wasn't a killer or anything in concept, but a lucky laser pistol shot finished off a PC in just over one hour. We said no thanks, lets go back to D&D (classic edition at the time).

I did agree to run it one time again a couple of years later for two of my friends. They both made modest spellcasters and started at first level (the game had a very different feel to it that time --- it was actually rather fun and interesting and had roleplaying elements to it, but not fun enough to risk it again in the future).

 

[Gothmog]

Games that completely turned me off and I wouldn't play again:

D6 Star Wars- very clunky system, and if you're not a Jedi, you're useless.

Shadowrun- tried this back in high school, and while the cyberpunk elements were kind of cool, the "I'm an elf street samurai" thing was just dumb. I tried it again a few years ago (3rd edition I think), and found it to be equally silly. It kind of feels like the old WH40k with elves in space, dwarves in space, orks in space, etc. WH40k universe has improved GREATLY over the years and is now cool- Shadowrun is still dumb. Not very original and it suffers for its lack of originality.

RIFTS- its no great secret that Palladium's system is craptacular, and falls apart quickly during play. Some of the ideas in RIFTS are pretty neat, but not worth playing the game for.

The WoD games can be the most pathetic games you'll ever play in, or with a good group who doesn't do the angst thing, some of the best gaming I've ever had. The WoD stuff STRONGLY depends on the players and their maturity level though (and I would LOVE to play/run a Wraith game someday if I could ever figure out how).

 

[RustyHalo]

>>> Dodgeball <<<

I'm an early GenX'er (born 1966). I lived in a small town in the upper Midwest. My best friend John was a genius. Quirky as hell and truly weird, which is what I loved about him. We were avid (ok...obsessed!) players of 1E D&D, together with our equally gifted/warped friend Chris.

All the jocks got great jollies from whacking John. Phy Ed was their culturally authorized excuse for doing so.

 

[harmyn]

...D6 Star Wars- very clunky system, and if you're not a Jedi, you're useless.....

Don't mean to take it off topic and you are entitled to your views and opinions, but you found d6 Star Wars clunky? I am working off the assumption given that you post here that you at least on occasion play D&D 3.x or a d20 game of some sort. You enjoy these games and their rules mechanics but found the d6 system clunky? Roll your skill, add the dice beat the target number and you succeed is clunky? If the GM said it was a difficult task you would have to make the "Difficult" target number? Categories were Very Easy, Easy, Moderate, Difficult, Very Difficult, and Heroic and you found that clunky? Combat was roll to hit vs. roll to not get hit and if you hit roll the damage dice, they roll to soak. That is the hardest part.

Don't see it, sorry.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

Anything Palladium. I really liked playing TMNT in high school, as it had a fun mutation system, but otherwise, the rules were awful. I've never seen a game system so blatantly encourage munchkinism -- I was regarded as odd in my group for making a pilot character and not taking a bazillion physical skills, and even my character had Speed 43. And the guy who runs the company is really stuck on himself.

World of Darkness. The tortured angst turned me off from the get-go. I am no longer 16.

Hero System. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge GURPS fan, that I put it head-and-shoulders over any other RPG ever written. And knowing that, most are surprised to find that my disdain for Hero is not founded in partianship, but my dislike of its inflexiblity. For a universal system, Hero sure has a bunch of extra subsystems built into it. And the fine differences between Perks, Powers, Talents ... give it up. And it's too point-anal for a 15-year player of GURPS.

Speaking of the greatest RPG ever ...

I had forgotten my dislike of GURPS, though it's primarily out of a sense of consumer outrage than anything else. Do you really need a dozen books about Robin Hood?

Uh, there was only one GURPS book about Robin Hood, and frankly, it wasn't good enough to make a sequel. (It had crap like an outer space version of Robin Hood, a 17th century Scotland version of Robin Hood, Cyber-Robin ... you get the point.) I know you're referring to its decision to make extra supplements for Traveller and Transhuman Space and WWII, but Traveller is a license that had a million supplements and many fans, having Transhuman Space supplements is no different than having Forgotten Realms supplements, and WWII ... you got me there, and SJG had to terminate the line due to poor sales of its ungodly narrow-focused supplements.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

Don't mean to take it off topic and you are entitled to your views and opinions, but you found d6 Star Wars clunky? I am working off the assumption given that you post here that you at least on occasion play D&D 3.x or a d20 game of some sort. You enjoy these games and their rules mechanics but found the d6 system clunky? Roll your skill, add the dice beat the target number and you succeed is clunky? If the GM said it was a difficult task you would have to make the "Difficult" target number? Categories were Very Easy, Easy, Moderate, Difficult, Very Difficult, and Heroic and you found that clunky? Combat was roll to hit vs. roll to not get hit and if you hit roll the damage dice, they roll to soak. That is the hardest part.

Don't see it, sorry.

Indeed. One of the biggest problems I have with d20 Star Wars is that it doesn't run as fast and furious as the older d6 game. Something like Star Wars benefits from a rules-light system. I would like to see a Fudge Star Wars.